The FA Cup and Community Shield are part of the discussion
English football chiefs are reportedly set to discuss the biggest shake up to the domestic game in 30 years.
The Times have reported that the six leading figures from the Premier League and EFL and Football Association will meet in person on Friday to work through a number of proposals from top-flight clubs.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will be part of the meeting, as will the FA’s Mark Bullingham and the EFL’s Trevor Birch.
Among the discussions include scrapping FA Cup replays, teams playing in European competitions only being allowed to field their youth sides in the Carabao Cup and changing the date of the Community Shield.
The Premier League has put forward the proposals as part of the ‘A New Deal For Football’ as they aim to reduce fixture congestion from 2024.
Part of the deal will also see Premier League clubs share more of their wealth with the lower divisions in the country after the EFL called for an extra £300m. Top flight clubs have only agreed to half of that figure so far.
Should the three parties fail to come to an agreement, a statutory independent regulator will be able to intervene on a financial settlement.
EFL officials are reportedly open to changes in the Carabao Cup, so long as they get the financial agreement they agreed to pay for.
Top flight clubs are keen for FA Cup replays to be scrapped from the third round (conveniently when they first join the tournament). Replays currently go on until the fourth round.
The Community Shield is set for the biggest shake up of them all with proposals to change the date. Some clubs believe that the date of the fixture (the Sunday before the first game of the season) disrupts their pre-season schedule and overseas tours.
Alternative suggestions have included moving the game abroad or, as Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly hopes for, swapping it to a Premier League ‘All Stars’ game.
In September Boehly said: “I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out, ‘Why wouldn’t we do a tournament with the bottom four teams? Why isn’t there an All-Star game?’
“You could do a North vs South All-Star game in the Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily. Everyone likes the idea of more revenue for the League.”
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